The launching ceremony of the Africa digital campus project was held this Thursday, March 24, 2022 at the virtual university of Burkina Faso, in the presence of the minister in charge of higher education, Frédéric Ouattara, the minister in charge of transition digital, Aminata Zerbo/Sabane, and Lionel Bilgo, minister in charge of national education. Conducted in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD), the Research Institute for Development (IRD), the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN), with the support of the European Union, this project strengthens cooperation in distance education and network infrastructure in Africa.
Officially launched on March 24, 2022, the Africa digital campus project aims to strengthen online training through connectivity and E-learning.
According to the Minister in charge of higher education, Frédéric Ouattara, this project will contribute to reducing all that is overlapping of academic years and academic delays as well as the high dropout rate observed in public universities.
“Important networking as well as an important band will be set up to facilitate the implementation of the project”, Frédéric Ouattara
With a duration of two years and a total cost of approximately 655,000,000 FCFA, Africa digital campus aims to provide access for students from universities in West and Central Africa, including those from the virtual university of Burkina Faso, to a quality online training offer. The project will also make it possible to strengthen the use of online training on a local scale.
“The idea of the project is to get results quickly on a very small scale. There, we are talking about hundreds of students and a few teachers that we will really support very closely to have results very quickly and show the impact that can be obtained with such an investment, "said the project coordinator, Alline Damian.
The Africa digital campus project is divided into four axes: E-learning to strengthen the online training offer of the two beneficiary structures; infrastructure and equipment to provide teachers and students with access to the university's online learning platform with sufficient throughput; knowledge sharing to exchange experiences and good practices between higher education and research structures offering an E-learning offer and finally advocacy to convince decision-makers to sustainably support the connectivity and E-learning solutions put in place by the project on a local scale and move on to a national scale.
